Don’t expect an autonomous vehicle to come from Porsche

When it comes to fully autonomous driving, what usually comes to mind? Usually a dull blob with wheels, and an interior that doubles as a living room and a bedroom, right?

Porsche is not about to succumb to that awful fate; an exec recently promised you’ll never see a car from the brand without a steering wheel or gas pedal. Even the stick shift might be sacred in Stuttgart.

“Our plan is to always have the steering wheel and always have the pedals and potentially to even have the manual gearbox to really engage with the car and to do it all yourself,” Porsche North America chief executive Klaus Zellmer said in an interview with Motor Authority.

“But our customers always want it all. They want the possibility to use autonomous drive mode but they want to really engage with the car as well.”

He says the automaker has to admit autonomous driving has its place, and that place is when the driver doesn’t feel like taking the scenic route anymore.

“All these assistance systems help you in certain traffic situations to give away some of the burdens of driving, and there are certain traffic situations where it’s just not enjoyable,” he said.

“Our take rates for (adaptive) cruise control are just as high as any other car brand and that’s why, in certain traffic situations, our customers will want that car to take them home without engaging personally.”

Basically, Porsche drivers want to have their cake and eat it, too. So Porsche wants to be able to let them just push a button and have their car take them home.

As a part of Volkswagen AG, Porsche also has the option of lifting level-three autonomous tech from its Audi sibling, and to move up to level four in the future. But we have to admit we’re happy to hear that even if that happens, Porsches will always have the option of full driver control.